The economic crisis that hit Portugal in 2010, and the consequent International Monetary Fund intervention have called for austerity measures that affect the country’s welfare state and required severe cuts in higher education funding. While such cuts affect all students, first generation students from working class backgrounds raise greater concern. This research examines biographical narratives of first generation students and illuminates how their specific cultural environment, limited economic resources and unstable social support policies shape their university experience. The analysis is theoretically informed by the parity of participation conception of justice and the capabilities approach, considering vulnerability as a universal human condition that can be reduced or expanded through institutional action. It argues that despite widening participation efforts, higher education is still a formal and not a de facto opportunity for this particular group.

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Ribeiro dos Santos AS. Mapping vulnerability through a capabilities approach. A biographical study of first generation students in Portuguese higher education. Bielefeld: University of Bielefeld; 2015.

Ribeiro dos Santos, A. S. (2015). Mapping vulnerability through a capabilities approach. A biographical study of first generation students in Portuguese higher education. Bielefeld: University of Bielefeld.

Ribeiro dos Santos, A. S. (2015). Mapping vulnerability through a capabilities approach. A biographical study of first generation students in Portuguese higher education. Bielefeld: University of Bielefeld.

Ribeiro dos Santos, A.S., 2015. Mapping vulnerability through a capabilities approach. A biographical study of first generation students in Portuguese higher education, Bielefeld: University of Bielefeld.

A.S. Ribeiro dos Santos, Mapping vulnerability through a capabilities approach. A biographical study of first generation students in Portuguese higher education, Bielefeld: University of Bielefeld, 2015.

Ribeiro dos Santos, A.S.: Mapping vulnerability through a capabilities approach. A biographical study of first generation students in Portuguese higher education. University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld (2015).

Ribeiro dos Santos, Ana Sofia. Mapping vulnerability through a capabilities approach. A biographical study of first generation students in Portuguese higher education. Bielefeld: University of Bielefeld, 2015.